For what it's worth, I'd make sure the 40 acres had some really fine hedges between the fields (none of this wire/post rail fencing) that produces berries you can pick - and flowers the bees will love too. Make sure that you have a good crop rotation to rest the soil and consider organic as it pays a premium too.
You don't need all singing and dancing kit for the place - perhaps hire in a combine/baler/plough for the first couple of years to help cash flow.
Ref Bees : to build up to that quantity of colonies in 1 season is asking for trouble - double maybe, treble perhaps, but 450 stong colonies is alot to manage - in the UK that's about the limit for a 1 man operation, although you are bound to loose probably 10/20% as you simply won't get round them all at peak time and then you need to consider the processing of all that honey too - you could be talking 1600 supers to extract in a good season - or more ! = a full time job for anybody !
Whatever you decide, best of luck and let us know how you get on
regards
S